Page 43 of Third Chances (Men of Manhattan 2)

I released him from my hug. "You're just stressed out, man. Penny doesn't care about all the noise. She just cares about you."

James shook his head. "I know. But we're not married yet. I still have time to lose her."

My big brother always gave off the vibe that he was as tough as nails. But he was actually a big softy. "You're not going to lose her. Trust me, if she was going to leave you, she would have done it already."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You're stubborn, obsessive, controlling, hot-tempered, possessive, jealous, egotistical, and you're probably extremely selfish in bed. She already knows all that and she's decided to stick around anyway."

"I don't think you know me at all."

I laughed and slapped his back as the elevator doors opened on the top floor.

"And despite all those terrible qualities, you're going to be a great dad. Because you'll be motivated to be better than our parents...who are clearly the worst. Besides, you're going to have kids whether you want to or not. I can't wait to be an uncle."

He laughed.

"Here's what we're going to do," I said as I opened up the door to our room. "You're going to get a drink from the mini bar and head back down to the pool to work on your tan. You have to look amazing when you get back to New York, since apparently Penny is thinking about leaving you. And you're going to spend the rest of this weekend relaxing and not stressing over anything. At this rate, you're going to have a heart attack before you turn thirty. You need to calm the fuck down and stop worrying about everything."

"Easier said than done." He flopped down on the bottom of his bed. He still seemed to be acting weird.

"Is there anything else? Maybe I should have used my snuggling card with you instead of Daphne."

James laughed and sat up. "I'm probably reading into nothing, but the past few weeks, Penny's been asking me a lot of questions. Like if I wish I was still a professor. It's like she's been trying to find a reason that I'm unhappy. It's unnerving. I don't know why she can't see how happy I am; how happy she makes me."

"Well, Professor Hunter, maybe because you're a ball of stress and hold it all in until you explode in an elevator and make strangers think we're gay."

He laughed. "Don't call me that."

"What's your deal anyway? You love when Penny calls you that. I saw your face when those girls called you Professor Hunter. It was like you hated it."

"I like when Penny calls me that. Not you. And not random people. I'm not a professor anymore. It's in the past. I want to keep it that way. I want to move forward. I just want Penny and me to be a normal couple."

"Normalcy is overrated."

He nodded. "I guess. But really, do you think Penny's getting cold feet?"

"No. Didn't I just tell you to stop worrying?" I pulled a small bottle of vodka out of the fridge and tossed it at him.

He looked at the bottle and then dropped it on the bed.

"You do realize that I thought you were suffering from withdrawal? You scared the shit out of me. I thought you were actually addicted to Penny. You know, like...unhealthily. I thought I was going to have to have an intervention and make you break up with her before you ruined both your lives."

James lowered his eyebrows. "I'm not addicted to her. Not like that, anyway."

"I know." And I did. He loved Penny unconditionally. It was such a deep connection. They could share one look and know what the other was thinking. I was almost certain that Penny knew that James was stressed out. Just like he knew that she was still upset about our parents not coming to their wedding. They were the perfect couple. There were pictures of them all over the internet tagged with #relationshipgoals. It was puke worthy.

I grabbed a shirt out of my suitcase and pulled it on. I wasn't sure I cared as much about anyone as James cared about Penny. The thought was a little chilling. James and my sister, Jen, were probably the highest on my list. I loved them unconditionally too. But of course, that was different. Penny was at the top too. I loved Penny. But as much as I enjoyed teasing her, I would never actually want to steal her away from James. She was perfect for him

. She wasn't perfect for me.

Shit. Am I jealous of their relationship? I shook the thought away. I wasn't jealous of James and Penny. I didn't want to be stressed out over a stupid wedding. The way it was tearing James up made it even more unappealing. If the stuff with my parents was bothering him, it would probably bother me whenever I got married too. Whenever, way way in the future that was.

"I have to go. Promise you'll head back down to the pool?"

"I'll come back down with you."

"Okay, but I'm not going back to the pool."

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